Sculptural thrill ride to open at Neuberger in Purchase

'Coney Island Maze' opens Saturday at the Neuberger Museum of Art

Jun. 5, 2013

'Coney Island Maze,' an installation by artist Donna Dennis, draws on the labyrinth of gates, fences and ramps nestled among the columns and I-beams beneath the Cyclone, a wooden roller coaster at Coney Island.

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What: “Coney Island Maze” sculptural installation When: June 7 to Sept. 15; opening reception on Friday from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Where: Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase Admission: $5, $3 for seniors, free for children 12 and under Information: 914-251-6100, www.neuberger.orgAlso: At 7 p.m. July 11, New York City historian Kenneth Jackson, Donna Dennis and painter Rackstraw Downes will take part in “New York History and Artists’ Response: A Conversation.” Call 914-251-6110 to register. • Family Second Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m. on July 13 and Aug. 10 on “The Cyclone Roller Coaster”; free hands-on art workshops for kids from tots to 10, accompanied by an adult.

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Thirteen years in the making, a large sculptural installation modeled on the famous Coney Island Cyclone amusement ride makes its debut on Saturday at the Neuberger Museum of Art at Purchase College.

Called “Coney Island Maze,” the installation by artist Donna Dennis will be on view until Sept. 15. An opening reception runs from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday.

The sculpture draws on the labyrinth of gates, fences and ramps nestled among the columns and I-beams beneath the actual Cyclone, the rickety wooden roller coaster that first opened on the Coney Island boardwalk in 1927.

The finished installation is truly of monumental scale: it rises to a height of 12 feet, with an ascending track that weaves in and out of darkness and then descends into the distance, skimming the edge of a rock wall that runs the entire 27-foot length of the work.

To evoke a middle-of-the-night quality, “Coney Island Maze” is set in a darkened space at the museum and lit by rows of bare bulbs, with the sound of a rollercoaster faintly in the distance. It also features locked gates, dead ends and abandoned ticket booths.

Dennis first saw the Cyclone in the mid-1990s when it was shuttered for the winter, and it’s this deserted, dead-still aura that she wanted to evoke in her work.

She is best known for creating large-scale works like tourist cabins and subway stations, including “Subway with Silver Girders” (1981-82), “Deep Station” (1981-85), and drawbridges as in “BLUE BRIDGE/red shift” (1991-93).

Her work is in many prominent collections, including the Brooklyn Museum, the Cleveland Art Museum, the Microsoft Collection in Seattle, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.